A/N: Yay! Chapter 9! Okay, anyways. I wanna thank everyone for their great reviews! That's what kept me going. I was busy today. But, I decided I really needed to update this fanfiction! I feel so bad to keep you all waiting for so long. I hope your forgive me! Anyways…Oh I have 1 shout out to give,

The O.C.-oholic – Thanks for helping me out with grammar! Gr! I suck at grammar. It's so unfair. Anyways, I also hate Mike. Lol. When I write for him I just go Eww! Lol. Anyways, you'll hate Mike much more in this chapter. : ). Okay, so you've been telling me to get a beta and I totally agree with you! So, do you have any idea where I can get one? Lol. Okay, well if you do…Please help me out! Because I desperately need one. Anyways, thanks hun!

Okay, so I'm sorry I couldn't continue with more shout outs but I'm too lazy to give them out. Heehee. Ohhh and to Rainygal have fun on your vacation! I'm going to miss your story desperately, but have much fun!

K, that's it for shout-outs I promise! So, here it is folks Chapter 9!


Chapter 9

Surprised Guests and Ridiculous Apologies

Marissa sat speechlessly in the back seat of Zach's car. She couldn't really bring herself to say anything at all, but she recognized that she wasn't the only one. Summer and Zach were also as quiet as mice. She sighed leaning back on the seat and focusing her attention out of the window. She watched as the trees, houses, road, and mailboxes speeded passed them, all as a blur. A lot of things seemed to be as a blue to her lately.

Zach finally reached Summer's house, pulling into her driveway. He slowly stopped the car and looked toward her.

"So, I'll call you tomorrow and hopefully we can hang out without being interrupted." Zach said smirking slightly jokingly.

Summer nodded in understandingly, a small smile had appeared on her face from his comment. "Hopefully," She started. "Anyways, thanks for bringing me home and we'll definitely re-schedule." She replied hopefully. She then opened her door, stepping out of the car and making her way toward the door.

Marissa watched Summer get out, and reached for the door handle tugging on it as the door opened. "Thanks Zach, for coming, picking me up. I'm really sorry for ruining things with you and Summer tonight." Marissa stated feeling responsible and slightly guilty.

Zach immediately spoke, "No, Marissa, don't be sorry. Please, it was no problem going to pick you up. I was happy to." He answered with a reassuring smile.

Marissa smiled back slightly. "See ya." She said softly as she removed herself from the vehicle and started for the door, meeting Summer. Summer quickly opened the door letting the two of them inside.

Summer stepped inside her dimmed house after un-locking the door. After Marissa had stepped inside she shut the door. "C'mon Coop," she started whispering, "Let's go up to my room." She then led Marissa up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door after Marissa had entered.

Summer pounced down on top of her bed and looked toward Marissa. "Okay, Coop, spill. Tell me what you were doing at a trashy party like that." She said pressuring, wanting answers now.

Marissa sighed, plopping down next to Summer. "Well," She started, "I was just about ready to go in and see Ryan, but…Mike. The guy at that party…The one who almost raped me, He showed up, and he kind of followed me around. Then I saw Jess and she invited me to the party and so…I went taking the opportunity to get away from…Mike." Marissa explained. She hated saying the name 'Mike'; it just wasn't bringing any good memories.

Summer stared wide eyed at her beast friend as she told her what had happened. "Is everything okay? I mean, you're okay, right? After seeing…Mike?" She asked concerned for her best friend.

Marissa nodded wordlessly.

"Thank god. I can't believe that ass had the nerve to even show up! I mean its bad enough he had to ruin your night at that party a couple nights ago. But, now he's ruining the time you should be spending with Ryan!" Summer yelled with disgust.

Marissa sighed, "Yeah, I know. The longer I wait to go see Ryan. The harder it seems to be able to face him. Just seeing him, laying there, not able to move or talk...Or even look at me. Then knowing it's my fault-"

"Coop! Stop blaming yourself." Summer said more as an order then a statement. "You can't keep blaming yourself for something that was a total and complete accident." Summer explained, caringly. She was hoping actually talking this out was helping Marissa. She figured it was better to discuss these types of matters rather then let them bottle up inside of her.

Marissa said nothing to what Summer had just explained to her, she couldn't think of anything to say. She knew it was her fault, t didn't matter what anyone said. She knew it and so did they. The only reason people kept telling her it wasn't her fault was because they thought that's what she wanted to hear. But, honestly, she just wanted everyone to be…Truthful.

There was an awkward silence between the two for a few minutes, before Marissa finally broke in.

"Y'know, I'm kind of tired. So, uh, do you wanna go to bed?" Marissa asked. She really did need the sleep; she just needed to take some things off her mind right now. She also needed time to think about what she was going to do about visiting Ryan in the hospital. When could she re-schedule this to?

Summer nodded. "Sure, whatever you wanna do." She answered simply. She was actually kind of tired herself. She handed Marissa a pair of her pajama bottoms and a tank top to wear to bed, since Marissa didn't exactly have any clothes of her own there. Marissa changed in the bathroom and Summer changed in her room. Once the two were changed, they went off to bed, quickly getting situated.

Summer fell asleep rather quickly. But, Marissa was staring up at the ceiling thinking about everything. That party she went to tonight and a couple days ago, Mike, Jess, Ryan. She just had so much on her mind, and it was all a tangled mess. She closed her eyes trying to remove her problems from her mind. They would soon be solved…Hopefully.

XXX

Seth stared in shock at the woman, with dark hair, with a baby cradled in her arms, "Theresa…" He said quietly, still in a great deal of shock more from seeing the baby rather then Theresa.

"What…What brings you to Newport?" Seth asked, still a little taken back. It took a few seconds before he realized how stupid that question was, "Never mind, stupid question." He walked toward her taking a seat in the chair that sat not to far from where Theresa had been. He sat, quietly, not saying a word.

Theresa looked up from the sound of Seth's voice. She sat speechless, she was hoping shed get lucky and no one would walk in while she was here. But, that didn't happen. She watched soundlessly as Seth walked toward the chair that had been located some what close to her and take a seat.

"I know you're probably wondering what I'm doing here, and with a baby cradled in my arms." She said softly as she looked over toward Seth.

Seth leaned back in his chair and looked toward Theresa, he shrugged. "No, it's your business." He stated simply, not meaning a word of it. He desperately wanted to know what Theresa had been doing there.

The both of them sat in silence for only a few seconds, until Seth had broken it, as usual…

"Okay, so I lied. I really want to know why you're here, and with a baby…" He blurted out, suddenly. Seeing the baby in Theresa's arms confused him and worried him at the same time. It made him wonder if that was the baby that Theresa had claimed had died.

Theresa looked up at Seth's sudden outburst. She sighed. "This is my son, Christopher. I know, I told Ryan that he died. But, he didn't. I lied and I'm sorry. I just, I could tell Ryan wasn't happy leaving with me. So, I lied so he could come back here with you guys. I know it was a stupid thing to do and if…" She paused for a moment looking toward Ryan, she watched as he lay there unconscious, watching his chest rising and falling. She bit her lip, and soon continued. "If Ryan knew he'd be devastated and hurt, but, that was what I needed to do." She explained, a few tears trickled from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away and focused her attention on Seth, waiting for a reaction.

Seth stared shocked at the wall. He couldn't believe what Theresa had just told him. How could she do something like that to Ryan? Knowing there was a possibility that this baby could belong to him. He looked toward Theresa, and finally spoke.

"How could you do that? Tell Ryan that the baby is dead when there's a possibility he might be the father?" Seth asked, slightly angrily at the way Theresa had handled the situation.

Theresa sighed. "I know I shouldn't have done what I did. But, I just saw no other way. I wasn't going to hold him hostage and have him stay with me when he wasn't happy." Theresa explained, her tone of voice getting a little louder.

"I understand that. But, lying to him? That wasn't the way to go, especially if you're lying about something as big as this." He spat signaling to the baby that lay in her arms. "If Ryan knew about this…He would never forgive you and you know what? I wouldn't blame him."

"I know! I screwed up. It's not the first time. I screw up all the time. With Eddie and Ryan and lying and…" She stopped as tears began to stream down her face. "You know what…It was probably a mistake coming here. I should go." She stood up and made her way quickly toward the door.

Seth sighed knowing that he couldn't just let her leave. He stood up and followed her toward the door, grabbing her shoulder, indicating for her to stop. "No, stay, I'm sorry. I'm just…Shocked. If you need someone to talk to about this, well…You could talk to my dad or mom or hey, Marissa." He suggested. "I don't know much about baby stuff. So, I'm no help in that department." He explained simply.

Theresa turned when Seth had grabbed her shoulder. She looked toward him, nodding slowly after he finished. "Thanks." She answered quietly yet gracefully. "I'm really sorry, for lying. It was the wrong thing to do." She answered.

Seth nodded. "It's okay. That apology should really be shot elsewhere though." He explained. "But you can tell Ryan everything about the baby when he wakes up." He answered simply.

Theresa bit her lip. "If he wakes up," She answered upsettingly. But, se knew there was a possibility that Ryan wouldn't wake up. That any second he could just stop breathing and could be lost…Forever.

Seth ignored Theresa's comment by changing the subject. "Let's get out of here. We can go back to my house maybe you can stay for a few days." He stated welcoming.

Theresa nodded. "Thanks." She said.

Seth smiled wordlessly. He reached for the door knob thrusting the hospital door open and letting Theresa walk out of the room. He glanced back at Ryan and smiled slightly. "See ya buddy." He said quietly as he disappeared out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

XXX

Marissa barely got any sleep that night. She just kept tossing and turning and even when she did fall asleep, she was soon awoken by all of her bad dreams. Most of them were about Ryan. She hated it; she hated the feeling of loosing him. The feeling of being lost. She closed her eyes slowly as a few tears escaped from her eye lids and stung her cheeks. She stared up at the ceiling. Summer was already sound asleep. It had been late, almost 5:00. Thank god she didn't have school tomorrow, even if she did she probably wouldn't even make an effort to bother going. She hated going to school without him. It was too hard. She looked at the clock once more and sighed softly. She closed her eyes slowly as a few more tears trickled down her soft cheeks. She lay there, trying to fall asleep, at least for an hour.

XXX

The next morning Seth slowly awoke, he saw that it was about 9:00 on a Saturday morning. He sighed, sitting up in his bed and stretching slightly. He had just escorted Theresa to the pool house last night to sleep since his parents were already sound asleep that night. He decided he would discuss Theresa's presence today. He slowly got out of bed grabbing his bathrobe from his closet and putting it on over his checked flannel pants and gray short sleeved shirt. He walked out of his room and started down the stairs and straight into the kitchen. He saw his mother pouring herself a cup of coffee and his father cream cheesing a bagel.

Sandy looked up from his bagel and noticed Seth had made his way into the kitchen. He covered the cream cheese back up after spreading it onto the fresh bagel. He took a bite of his bagel as he grabbed the cream cheese and started for the fridge, sticking it on the door.

"Morning son," Sandy said with a smile.

"Yeah morning." Seth answered making his way toward the kitchen table and sitting down. "So, uh, I ran into Theresa last night visiting Ryan…" He said trailing off.

"Theresa?" Sandy asked a little taken back as he took another bite of his bagel. "What's she dong down in Newport?" He asked a little confused.

Seth shrugged. "Obviously visiting Ryan, She knew about what happened she had to have. Other wise she wouldn't have known Ryan would be at the hospital." Seth stated the obvious.

Kirsten finally decided to join in the conversation after she had finished with the coffee. "I called Theresa…A little while ago. I told her abut what happened. I figured she had a right to know. She and Ryan are friends."

Seth nodded. "Yeah, but that's not the shocking part. The shocking part is Theresa didn't show up alone. She had a guest."

"Oh know," Sandy started with a bit of worry. "Eddie wasn't with her was he? Because I can easily tell you nothing could lead to good from that." He answered, finishing off the first half of his bagel.

Seth shook his head. "No, it wasn't Eddie. It was someone much smaller, much cuter and someone with much less hair then Eddie. If you know what I mean." He answered.

"What do you mean?" Sandy asked as Kirsten handed him a cup of coffee that she had just poured for him.

"I mean Theresa showed up with a baby. And not just any baby her baby that could also have a connection to Ryan. We do not know that much." Seth answered raising his eyebrows slightly.

Kirsten immediately looked toward Seth shocked. "What do you mean her baby?" She asked confused.

"I thought Theresa lost the baby?" Sandy cut in, equally as confused as his wife.

Seth nodded. "Well, yeah, that's what she told Ryan. But, we never thought that she could be lying which she was because the baby is alive. She told me that she lied to Ryan because she could tell he wasn't happy staying with her."

"Why would she do that?" Kirsten asked. "Well, do you know if she needs someone to talk to? Maybe I should give her call…" She continued curiously.

"Well, you could that. But, I think it'd be easier to just walk out to the pool house and ask her." Seth answered as he picked up the paper looking through it, seeing if anything actually interesting has happened in Newport.

Kirsten looked toward Seth. "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean, Theresa's out in the pool house. I told her she could stay here for a while." Seth answered, more concentrated on the newspaper in front of him then his mother.

Sandy finished off his bagel and coffee quite quickly. He soon turned to Kirsten, "Well, I better get to work. I might be home a little late afterwards I'm going to stop by the hospital and see Ryan." Sandy said as he leaned in giving Kirsten a quick kiss, then starting off. "Bye Seth!" He soon called as he exited the kitchen.

Kirsten kissed Sandy back. "Bye." She answered with a smile. She watched as he left and then turned her attention back toward Seth. "I'm going to head toward the pool house. Just to see if Theresa needs anything." She said as she started toward the glass door and stepped out, making her way towards the pool house.

"Bye!" Seth yelled toward his dad as he left. He simply nodded to his mothers comment and watched her exit, he threw the paper down on the kitchen table finding nothing interesting going on. "And I'm…Going to my room to play Jenga with Captain Oats." He said simply as he stood up, also exiting the kitchen.

XXX

Marissa's eyes fluttered open pretty late the next morning at around 1:00 PM. She sat up and noticed that Summer was still sleeping peacefully. She stood up and sighed deciding to leave Summer a note saying that she had gone home, she walked toward Summer's chair and noticed a few school nooks along with pens and a notebook. She tore a piece of notebook paper from the notebook and grabbed a pen quickly scribbling down a note that had said she'd gone home. She left it on Summer's dresser and grabbed the clothes she had worn yesterday off of a nearby chair. She walked out of Summer's room and quickly toward the bathroom changing into her own clothes. She slipped her flip flops on and walked out of the bathroom leaving the clothes Summer had given her on the same chair she had found her own clothes on.

Marissa started down the stairs opening the front door and shutting it after she had exited. She decided to walk home, it wasn't too far. She felt the hot Californian sun blazing down onto her body as she walked slowly back to the humongous mansion she had lived in with her mother and Caleb.

XXX

After about maybe 16 to 20 minutes of walking Marissa finally reached the Cooper-Nichol mansion. She noticed her car was the only one located in the driveway, so, that meant Caleb and Julie weren't around which was good for her. She seriously didn't feel like dealing with them. She walked toward the door retrieving the key from her pocket and quickly opened the door, starting inside. When she got inside, it was just as quiet as it was outside. That was exactly how she liked it. She started up the stairs and soon entered her room.

Marissa walked into her room and straight toward her dresser. She really needed a shower and change of clothes. She grabbed a par of blue jeans and a simply black tank top from her dresser. She was about to head off in to the bathroom until she heard her cell phone beeping. She sighed walking toward it. It's probably Summer wanting to hang out later. She thought as she snatched her cell phone off her bed. She had new text messages, she checked them. 'So, I saw that you didn't sleep very well at Summer's last night. What were the tears about?'

She read it quietly to herself. She immediately dropped her cell phone to the floor, she had forgotten about these freaky text messages. After everything she's been going through lately they just never crossed her mind. She closed her eyes, taking in a few deep breathes. What was she going to do? Normally she would tell Ryan….He would help her and make her feel safe. But, she couldn't do that now. She had no one to protect her. She had to deal with this on her own. She jumped up what seemed like one thousand feet in the air when she heard a loud knocking at the door. Chills ran through her spine as she made guesses on who could be at the door. She walked slowly down the stairs and toward the door. She reached slowly for the door knob; she thrust the door open quickly.

Mike stood in front of Marissa, flowers in hand. "Marissa, please don't close the door or yell or anything. Just listen, please." Mike pleaded.

Marissa was about to slam the door and Mike's face but she sighed when he had told her not to. "Fine, you have 5 minutes." She said crossing her arms around her chest, expectantly.

"Thank you." Mike stated honestly as he raised his eyebrows slightly. "Okay, I know you're pissed at me for what happened at the party. Honestly, I'm pissed at myself for what happened. I was drunk and I am so sorry for everything that happened or almost happened. It was unfair to you, and I'm really glad your boyfriend came in and kind of beat my ass for what I almost did because if I did…" He trailed off but soon continued. "I would never be able to forgive myself for hurting or violating a beautiful girl such as yourself. So, I was hoping you could except my apology and at least be friends with me. We could hang out? Go see a movie or something? What do you say?" He asked hopefully.

Marissa bit her lip and looked down at her feet. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, he really did seem sorry and it was a sweet apology. She smiled slightly and nodded. "Okay. Well, first I just have to take a shower and get dressed. So, I'll call you later…When I get out." She answered.

Mike smiled. "Okay, cool. So I'll talk to you later?"

Marissa nodded. "Yeah."

Mike smiled "Cool." He was ready to turn and leave, but he forgot. "Oh, here, I got these for you." He answered handing her the flowers had bought for her.

Marissa smiled. "Thank you. That was sweet." She answered as she took them, thankfully. "So, I'll see you later."

Mike nodded. "See ya." He answered with a smile. He turned and began walking off. This would be perfect; she actually bought that sappy fake apology he had given to her. He smirked as he started walking away from the house. He grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and dialed a familiar number, Jess. Jess didn't answer so; he decided to leave a message.

"Hey Jess, It's Mike. I just wanted to let you know everything went smoothly with Marissa. She bought the apology and we're going to the movies in a little while. So, give me a call back and I'll stop by you're house and we can think of some way to fuck with her. I think everything with the text messaging is going good." He smirked. "Well, call me later. Bye." Mike hung up the phone swiftly and stuck it back into his jeans pocket.


A/N: That was chapter 9! Wow! Lol. Okay, so, now that you've read it go review! Nice work to Judge Judy to figuring out the mystery person in Ryan's room. Yay! So, I need at least 85 reviews to continue for net chapter! So, come on guys. Click that review button to the left of you! Go! Do it, now!

Clue for next chapter: Sandy visits Ryan. Kirsten helps Theresa. Jess talks to Trey. Marissa goes out with Mike. But, is it what she expects? Or something terriblywrong?